Search engine Google is to create 600 jobs in Ireland over the next three years as it expands its European headquarters.

Google employs more than 800 people across Europe. To accommodate the growing workforce, the firm has signed a lease for a further 100,000sq ft beside its current Dublin building.

"Since its inception in Ireland in 2003, Google's business has rapidly developed well ahead of expectations. Following this investment, Google will become, in a very short period of time, one of the most substantial business support integration and development operations in Ireland," Micheál Martin, Ireland's minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said in a statement.

The minister added the move showed a vote of confidence in Ireland's IT skills.

"The Irish management and workforce are to be congratulated on the success of the company here to date — a factor that considerably influenced Google's decision to expand in Ireland," he added.

The company is looking to employ people in operations, sales, engineering, legal, finance and human resources.

The Dublin office is Google's largest operation outside the US, with employees from more than 40 nationalities.

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